


Hall of Mirrors

by ExpressAndAdmirable



Series: The Heroes of Light [3]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Final Fantasy I
Genre: Bards Being Bards, Dream Sequence, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Gen, Tiefling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 15:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13149768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpressAndAdmirable/pseuds/ExpressAndAdmirable
Summary: Lux has a bad dream, one of many she will have over the course of their journey. (Featuring art!)





	Hall of Mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by the absolutely beautiful piece of art Morgan's player (@stufflaalikes on Tumblr) drew of Lux. Having three professional artists in your party is awesome.

_Silence._

_Lux was not used to silence. It unnerved her. There was no music in her head, no voice in her mouth. She could feel her heart pounding, but even the blood in her veins was muted. Her breathing could not lift the thick blanket of silence. She wanted to speak, could feel the words forming on her tongue, but they fell into nothingness when she tried to release them. She screamed. Nothing._

_She was dressed in finery, though she did not know why. A flowing gown and shawl of blue and green, her neck and ears dripping with ornaments of gold. A sense of urgency seized her; she was late. Dangerously late. She had to get there – where? She picked up her skirts and started to run._

_The streets of Corneria were dark. Deserted. But they shouldn’t be, she knew. They were never deserted. No lights in the windows. Doorways yawned into blackness if they were open at all. The only illumination came from the moon overhead: full, ominous, looming over the tiny figure dashing through the empty streets. Where was everyone?_

_Lux followed the alley until it emptied into one of the main thoroughfares of the city. There, in the middle of the road, looking up at the moon: Morgan. Relief flooded through her. She rushed forward, but Morgan did not seem to get any closer. She reached out, tried to call to the Gnome, to tell her she had come. Still no sound. Suddenly she was at Morgan’s side and she swept the little woman into her arms. She squeezed her close, as a mother would comfort a frightened child. But Morgan wasn’t there. Lux’s arms were empty. She spun, looking at the ground around her. She was alone._

_Soft, warm light, coming from the doorway of a tavern. Lux crept forward, cautious. She knew this tavern. She had played here many times. As she stepped through the doorway, for the briefest moment, she could see two ghostly figures on the stage: herself, a version of herself she had not seen in many years, and a young Human woman in white. Princess Sara. Then they were gone. In their place in the centre of the stage sat the source of the light. A bachi, though not made of any wood she had seen before. Lux picked up the plectrum. It was real, despite its glow, its weight familiar and comforting in her hand. She held it close._

_As she turned to leave the tavern, she spied a figure in the corner, eyes fixed on the stage. Wilhelm, mesmerised. He did not look at her as she approached. She centred herself in his field of vision, waved her hands, tried to yell, but he stared through her. Then he was gone as well. Lux felt her chest tighten, tears clouding her vision. She fled the tavern._

_Dark, silent streets. The city she knew so well had become a labyrinth, dead ends where there should have been alleys and passages where there should have been walls. She stumbled, caught her footing, stopped to take in her surroundings. She was on a corner she recognised. Old blind Mourat’s shop stood before her, closed up tight. The shop where she had learned to play and sing and use her music to move mountains. She knocked, silent even as the rough wood scraped her fingers. She knocked and knocked and knocked. She banged her fists on the door. She threw her weight against it, a noiseless growl of frustration escaping her lips. The door opened._

_Inside was not Mourat’s shop, but Esperance’s, the smell of dye and animal hide thick on the air. Nothing moved. There was no fire in the hearth. The windows were boarded. On the counter where Lux had so often rested her bored elbows was a letter, neatly folded and sealed, addressed to her first name. Fingers trembling, she broke the wax and unfolded the parchment. Her mother’s neat, flowing script was incomprehensible, turning from words into gibberish as she attempted to read them. The ink began to move and twist, letters and phrases snaking off the page and splashing in ugly black droplets on the floor. Lux let the paper fall and clutched the bachi. Cold, creeping dread seized her heart. She could not lose anyone else. She had to find Sol._

_She followed no path, she had no plan. She simply let her instincts take her. Shops, taverns, schools, homes melted into the background of her vision as she ran. Her lungs burned. Finally, the city’s bay sprawled open before her, the ever-present moon hanging low over the horizon. She could not hear herself panting as she struggled to catch her breath._

_At the end of one of the piers she saw her: a figure with long white hair that almost glowed in the moonlight. Lux froze, elation turning to wild panic. She tried to call out to Sol, to tell her to get off the pier, it’s not safe, that’s where Papa fell. Though no sound left her lips, the figure turned. Sol smiled. Then the pier gave way beneath her feet, and in a moment, Sol had disappeared in a muted splash of dark water. Lux screamed Sol’s true name. The surface of the ocean stilled._

_Lux stared in horror at the broken pier where Sol had stood. Where Zahak had stood. She felt something inside her shatter. Too much._

_Suddenly unable to support the enormity of the world, Lux’s knees gave out. She fell to the ground, violent sobs silently wracking her body. She screamed until her throat was raw, the soundlessness of the action only fuelling her rage. The city started to spin around her. She shut her eyes tight, tears streaming down her cheeks, dizzy with fury and despair. She cried until she had nothing left to cry, until everything had been wrung out of her and she was nothing but dry, shuddering air. When her breathing had evened, sorrow giving way to numb exhaustion, she opened her eyes._

_The back alley behind the market. One of her secret places from when she was young. She stood slowly, unsteadily, her body weak and empty. There was a light coming from behind a stack of crates. She inched close enough to peer around the wooden obstacles. Leaning against the wall she herself had leaned against so many times was a shamisen, its slender body emitting the same faint golden glow as the bachi in her hand. She reached for it tentatively and was both surprised and soothed by how real it felt. Delicately, she settled herself on the ground and struck a note._

_It was as if she had summoned thunder. The sound rang out, impossibly loud, shaking the walls and the crates and the stones beneath her. She played another and the whole world shook. She played the third string and everything around her came crashing down._

The clatter of a ladle hitting a pot roused Lux from her slumber. The smell of cooking fish and root vegetables invited her back to reality. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, deeply disoriented. Her memory began to return. She had fallen asleep against Sol’s wolf after a conversation with Sol herself; the wolf had, as it turned out, very politely stayed to be Lux’s pillow long after Sol had risen. Their little band had made camp on the bank of the great lake surrounding Castlefall, which stood in the distance like the bones of a giant dead creature. From the looks of the camp, she was the last one to awaken.

Lux’s heart hurt, though as the dream began to fade, she could not quite remember why. She stood and stretched. It was going to be a long day.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr at @expressandadmirable for a proper table of contents for the Heroes campaign, commissioned character art, text-based roleplay snippets and more!


End file.
